Pleasure Exchange

by Cathryn Fox

  Cat.

  Just the mere thought of her had his body reacting with urgent demands. In less than an hour he’d have her all alone in the research room and he’d finally have a chance to sample her lush body and get her out of his system. His cock throbbed just thinking about tasting and kissing her gorgeous, plump lips.

  Both sets.

  He practically salivated as his mind shifted through all the mouthwatering ways he planned on devouring her.

  A strange primal yearning rolled through him as he thought about moving beyond pleasant courtyard exchanges to a deeper level of intimacy while testing Cat’s responses to sexual stimulation.

  His sexual stimulation.

  Something about the emotions Cat pulled from him really threw him off balance. Sam had always remained cool, confident, distant, and detached with the women he’d had sex with.

  Sex was just that. Sex. Nothing more, nothing less. Insert tab A into slot B. Repeat if necessary. Simple good clean fun between two emotionally unattached people. At least that was the way it had always been. Sam had always kept a modicum of distance with the female gender and never let himself get too involved.

  Nor did he plan to.

  Tugging his shirt from his waistband, he pulled it off and tossed it into his bedroom as he rounded the corner to the bathroom.

  The doorbell sounded. A muscle in Sam’s jaw clenched, suddenly concerned that Cat had stopped by to tell him she’d changed her mind. Of course, this would be disastrous for his six-month hard-on, not to mention his inability to complete his assignment.

  He swallowed his last bite of chicken, tracked back to the door, and pulled in a fortifying breath. He eased the door open and relaxed, realizing how tense he’d felt only moments before.

  His heart softened and filled with love as he came face-to-face with the most beautiful girl in the world. A girl who had taken up residency in his heart one month previous.

  Sam had been mistaken earlier. There was one girl he didn’t keep a modicum of distance with, after all. The first time their eyes had met, she’d broken through his defenses.

  Composing himself, Sam reached out to her. In a protective manner, he took her little body into his embrace and planted a gentle, heartfelt kiss on her rosy cheek.

  He pitched his voice low. “I wasn’t expecting you,” he murmured, cradling Samantha, his one-month-old goddaughter, in his arms.

  Kale clapped him on the shoulders. “Hey Sam, how’s it going?” Kale asked, stepping into the condo after relinquishing his sleeping daughter.

  Sam leaned out his door and briefly looked around. His eyes skirted the parking lot. “Where’s Erin?” With the butt of his heel, he shut the door and faced Kale.

  “Resting.” Kale yawned and brushed a gentle finger over Samantha’s cheek. He nodded his chin toward the bundle of joy in Sam’s arms. “Our little girl here fussed all night so I thought I’d give mommy a break and bring her over to visit with her favorite godfather.”

  Sam took the baby’s hand in his. Tiny fingers curled around his index. “Well, I’m glad you did.” Samantha stirred and opened her big blue eyes. Sam’s heart tightened. He hugged her against his bare chest as emotions rushed through him like a runaway freight train. As he cradled her, Samantha’s chubby little body molded against his. The fresh scent of baby powder reached his nostrils.

  Sam dipped his head. A few sprigs of Samantha’s dark hair tickled his cheek. “Hey sweetheart,” he murmured, brushing his lips over her forehead. Christ, who would have thought that such a little thing like her could arouse so many foreign feelings in him?

  Sam took a breath and met Kale on the sofa. He lowered himself and propped his feet up, carefully positioning Samantha’s head in the crook of his arm, securing her against him. Angling his head, Sam read Kale’s body language, taking in the tension and concerned look on his face.

  Like himself, Kale was usually laid back and relaxed. Sam detected none of those carefree qualities in his friend tonight. Something was up. “Now tell me why you’re really here,” Sam said.

  Kale chuckled and shifted to face Sam. “You know me too well.”

  Sharing the same interests, Sam and Kale had become instant friends when Kale had taken a position at the lab and married Sam’s friend and coworker, Erin Shay. Well, it was now Erin Alexander.

  Sam’s eyebrow shot up. “What’s up?”

  Kale mimicked Sam’s position, propping his feet up. Without preamble, he got right to the point. “I was concerned about your deadline. With protestors breathing down your neck and the Board of Directors temporarily shutting down your project, how are you going to test the libido enhancer and prove your finding to the Grant Governing Board on time?”

  “I’ve got it under control,” Sam assured him.

  Kale cocked a brow and scrubbed his hand over his chin. The poor guy looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week.

  “Yeah? Care to elaborate,” Kale probed.

  Sam rolled one shoulder, shifted Samantha in his arms, and offered no further explanation.

  Kale narrowed his gaze, scrutinizing him, his voice taking on a serious edge. “From what I understand you have no options, Sam. Our Director wants the serum perfected as much as the rest of us, but you know bad press means big trouble and a skittish Board of Directors. You and I both know the Research Center counts on the grant money, but the Director also informed me the Board has made their decision and it’s completely out of his hands. Until the bad press dies down, your project is on hold.”

  Sam clenched his jaw as his mind sorted through matters. The way Sam saw it, since he was dealing with two completely different boards, he could finish his assignment, present it to the Grant Governing Board, secure his grant, and the Board of Directors would be none the wiser.

  “I don’t have time for the protest to die down. You know what these activists are like.” Sam shook his head and blew out a frustrated breath. “Greenpeace has nothing on them. They get something in their heads and won’t listen to reason. Even if Cat wrote another article clarifying things, it wouldn’t matter.”

  “Cat?” Kale asked, his voice a mixture of curiosity and concern.

  “The reporter who started this,” Sam offered.

  “The one who moved into Erin’s old condo?”

  Working to keep his face expressionless, Sam nodded. The less Kale knew the better. If this plan backfired, he didn’t want Kale going down with him.

  “I see,” Kale said, his eyes assessing Sam.

  Fidgeting under his scrutinizing gaze, Sam slanted his head and glanced at the clock. Kale watched the movement.

  “Am I keeping you?”

  “I have a date.” Sam paused, wondering why the word “date” popped into his mind.

  Kale rose and gathered Samantha into his arms. “A date? Seems to me you haven’t had one of those in awhile. Erin will be happy to hear that. She’s worried that you’ve been working too hard.”

  Sam stood and crossed his arms, immediately missing Samantha’s warmth, suddenly feeling very…lonely.

  He donned his professional face and met Kale’s glance. Both Erin and Kale had entrusted him with this experiment when they took extended leave to stay home with Samantha. He wasn’t going to make them regret the decision. “I will see this project to completion, Kale, no matter what it takes.”

  “Be careful, Sam. The Board halted your experiment. If you get caught doing what I think you’re doing and our Director finds out, you can kiss your job goodbye.”

  Sam clapped his friend on the back. “Everything is under control, Kale,” he assured. “Now I have to go, I’m running late.”

  “One more thing, Sam.”

  “What?”

  A bemused expression crossed his face. “You might want to distinguish the difference between a date and an experiment.”

  “You’re doing what with whom?”

  Cat hushed her best friend and neighbor, Jen, and rushed around her condo looking for her sexy, hot red pumps, or
“fuck-me-shoes” as Jen preferred to call them.

  God, it had been so long since she’d worn high heels it’d be a damn miracle if she made it through the night without tripping. With the way her luck was going she’d likely fall and break something vital to the experiment. For a brief moment she wondered if her ass was vital. Surely it had to be. If she broke her neck or her ass, then she’d never get to hold up her end of the deal, which would be horrible for Sam. Of course, Sam’s project really was her main concern. Not her overactive libido or the way it was screaming at her to answer her bodily urges with a guy who’d been a reoccurring character in her erotic dreams. No, it had nothing at all to do with that. Girl Scouts honor.

  Cat popped a wedge of orange into her mouth and pressed her fingers to her lips. “Shhh…he’s going to be here any minute and I don’t want him to hear you.”

  Jen dropped to her knees, peered under the sofa, and produced the missing shoes. “Cat, I can’t believe you’re going to be a damn lab rat.” She coiled the straps around her fingers and swung them like a pendulum.

  Neither could Cat. It was all she’d been able to think about since suggesting it earlier that day. That and how Sam planned on using himself as stimulus.

  “Since you insist on going through with this, you might need one of these. Two if you’re really lucky.” Jen grabbed a couple of small foil packages from her purse and slipped them into Cat’s handbag. “This is a condom.” She stretched out the last word. “It goes on the man’s penis—”

  Cat swallowed her orange and cut Jen off with a glare. “Just because I haven’t used one in ages, doesn’t mean I forgot what it’s for. Besides, I won’t need it. Sam is testing my responses; we’re not testing his.”

  “And you don’t think he’s going to get just a little turned on while he’s doing that?”

  She could dream, couldn’t she?

  Jen’s eyes opened wide, like she’d just won the state lottery, and she giggled like a schoolgirl. “Do you think he’s going to give you multiple orgasms? The serum is to increase the female libido. Surely he’s going to have to record your responses during a climax, or two, or maybe three if you’re really lucky.”

  God, she hoped so. The truth was she had no idea what Sam had in store for her.

  “I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Cat grabbed the heels and slipped into them. She stood in front of her hall mirror and glanced at her jeans and blouse. She’d agonized all evening on what to wear. A slinky dress or jeans? In the end she’d settled for jeans. After all, Sam was conducting an experiment, not taking her on a date.

  Cat studied her profile a moment longer. “What do you think of the shoes? Overkill?”

  “Not if you’re screaming fuck me.” A wry grin curled Jen’s mouth, one brow rising inquisitively. “Are you screaming, fuck me, Cat?”

  As a fourth-year psychology student, Jen had a habit of overanalyzing any situation. Cat turned, checking the angle from the back. “Cut the analysis crap, Jen. I told you this isn’t about sex. I’m just helping Sam with the experiment. It’s the least I can do.” She smoothed her hand over a few temperamental curls, teasing them down.

  Jen snorted. “Who are you trying to convince of that, me or you?”

  A knock on the door drew their attention. Jen grinned and whispered in Cat’s ear, “Maybe if you’re really good, he’ll let you play with his monkey.”

  Cat stifled a chuckle. “You are so bad.”

  Jen leaned against the wall. “Me? Bad? I’m not the one playing sex games with Romeo.”

  “Romeo?”

  “Come on, Cat. Sam has reached out and touched more women than Hallmark.”

  Cat planted her hands on her hips. “I’ve been living here for six months and I haven’t seen him with anyone but that cute little chimp of his.”

  “That’s because he’s been buried in a project. Before that…well, let’s just say before that women were lining up like he was an amusement ride.”

  Taking pause, Cat remembered the way the women on the picket line swarmed him, touching him with familiarity. Did they know him on an intimate level? Had they all gone for a wild ride on his joystick? Jen had to be wrong. Sam really didn’t strike her as the playboy type at all.

  Cat spoke in a hushed tone. “But he’s such a gentleman and he seems so sweet,” she countered.

  Jen lowered her voice to match Cat’s. “Oh he is sweet, Cat. Candy apple sweet. All six foot two of him. Or so I’ve been told.” Jen gave her a wink. “And he’s also a gentleman. Ladies first, if you know what I mean.”

  Cat crinkled her nose, trying to wrap her head around the idea that Sam was a playboy. “He’s so nurturing, though. Have you ever seen him with Rio?”

  “He’s nurturing all right.” Jen picked up Cat’s orange, tossed a piece into her mouth, and handed the last wedge to Cat. “From what I hear he’ll nurture multiple orgasms right out of you.” Jen crinkled her brow. “Come to think of it, maybe you’re not so crazy after all. Let me know where I can sign up to be a lab rat,” she teased. “It’s been awhile since I had multiple…anything.”

  Cat shot Jen a silencing look, tamped down the odd churning in her stomach, and walked to the door. It really shouldn’t bother her to find out Sam had his own harem of women. It wasn’t like they were in an intimate relationship, nor was she even entertaining the idea. Not for a split second. He could date as many women as he wanted. It didn’t matter one measly iota to her.

  Which had her wondering why the image of Sam as the main carnival attraction left her feeling very disconcerted.

  Pushing back the surge of jealousy, Cat furrowed her brow and pressed her fingers to her lips in warning. “Be good and play nice.” She tossed her orange slice into her mouth, wrapped her palm around the doorknob, and twisted.

  Jen shook her curly black locks from her shoulders. “Only if you’ll be bad and share the details.”

  Cat ignored her friend and pulled her door open. One word came to mind as she caught his sexy, bad-boy grin.

  Stimuli.

  No, that’s a lie. Two words came to mind. Stimuli. Me. Now. Or was that three?

  As she took in the handsome man before her, she gasped. She actually gasped. And he heard it. Good Lord. One look from him and she turned into a speechless sex nymph.

  Sam’s sun-bleached hair looked damp from a recent shower. His scent, an aphrodisiacal combination of soap, shampoo, and one hundred percent grade A male, curled around her, drawing her into a cocoon of need and desire. She wondered what he wore underneath that long leather trench coat. Professional, easy-to-remove, loose-fitting scrubs or those aged, faded jeans of his that had her drooling like an overheated Saint Bernard, and, on more than one occasion, had had her doing a few intimate, solo experiments of her own.

  With effort she spoke. “Hi,” she pushed that one word out past the lump lodged in her throat. “I’m all wet…set. I mean set. I’m all set,” she repeated like a babbling idiot.

  Good Lord.

  If he caught her slip, he ignored it and for that Cat was grateful. Cat grabbed her coat, shrugged it on, and hitched her handbag high on her shoulder.

  If this were a date, she would have played it cool and kept him waiting, but it wasn’t a date. Why did she constantly have to remind herself of that? Because Sam York had never shown any interest in her as a woman before and right now he thought of her as nothing more than a lab rat.

  “Sorry I’m late. I had a few last-minute things at the lab to take care of.” He looked past her shoulder. “Hey, Jen. How’s it going?”

  Jen looked like she was about to swoon when he gifted her with one of his panty-soaking smiles. Cat couldn’t blame her, really. It had taken all her strength and two locked knees to keep herself upright.

  “Hey, Sam. Things are good. Where’s Rio?” Jen pushed off the wall and hooked her thumbs through her belt loops.

  Sam turned sideways to let Cat through the doorway. “She’s at the lab.”

  “If you ever n
eed a sitter, I’d be more than happy to play with your…monkey,” Jen offered.

  Cat gulped. Oh, my God. Her orange rose from her stomach and lodged in her throat. Jesus, she was going to kill Jen when she got back.

  One sexy brow cocked as Sam slanted his head and shot Jen a glance. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Cat twisted around, glared at her grinning friend, and cast a look that suggested her days were numbered as she gripped the knob and pulled her door closed.

  Glancing around, Cat noted that darkness had settled over the city. A warm, white light drifted out from the condo and spilled onto the porch. Sam dipped his head and looked at her, a sparkle simmering in his baby blues.

  “She was talking about Rio, right?”

  His velvety smooth voice bombarded her body with rich, evocative sensations. The tips of his sun-drenched hair blew in the gentle night breeze, framing his strong chiseled face. God, he was so beautiful. Her heart did a weird little dance, the Macarena if she had to guess.

  She swallowed, her insides turning to putty. A wayward lock fell over his eyes. She linked her fingers together, resisting the pull to brush it from his forehead.

  Cat suppressed a shiver of longing and let out a heavy breath. It formed a cloud in the cool air. She waved a dismissive hand and dodged the question. “I think she’s been studying too hard. Just ignore her.” Nodding to the parking lot, she brought their conversation back to the night ahead. “My car or yours?”

  Sam fished his keys out of his coat. The enticing scent of leather reached her nostrils. What was it about a man in leather that made her hotter than suicide salsa? Well, not just any man. This man.

  “I’ll drive.” Strong arms circled her shoulders and pulled her in tight, tight enough that every inch of his sculpted body touched hers. Warmth spread over her skin. Lord, it felt so good when he touched her and held her in such a protective manner. Growing up in a houseful of guys, Cat had fought for her independence. Most men made her feel smothered, yet around Sam she didn’t experience any of those unpleasant feelings at all.